Zidane: Mbappé remains captain, I won't get involved in Ballon d'Or debate

France head coach Zidane held a press conference to announce his first squad since taking office and answered questions from media on site. This article is the second part of the press conference.

Hello Zinedine, is Kylian Mbappé your captain? Also, there's been a lot of discussion and news about the Ballon d'Or recently. As a national team coach, do you think it's necessary to take a stance on this issue? Does this affect your communication and interaction with the attacking players competing for this award?

In any case, there will always be discussions. There will always be plenty of debate, but I don't intend to get involved at that level. Yes, Kylian is my new player, and he will be my captain—that's very clear and beyond question. As for the rest, you know, I won't get caught up in the current Ballon d'Or considerations, nor will I engage in the heated topics being discussed.

Hello Zinedine, I apologize, but I'd like to ask a bit more about the Ballon d'Or, because it's really occupied a lot of media space these past few days. You've won the Ballon d'Or yourself, you've worked with several Ballon d'Or winners in the dressing room during your playing career, and you've coached Ballon d'Or winners as a coach. So you're in a very special position with an important voice. You know that when this individual honor becomes bigger than the team's collective interest, it can sometimes cause problems at the team level. Based on this, do you think you should blow the whistle to "end halftime," or will you let the players work it out amongst themselves?

No, to be clear, I won't blow the whistle, because in reality, this freedom of expression will exist anyway on a daily basis—these are discussions and debates, and everyone has the right to say what they want. As you said, I understand what it means to win the Ballon d'Or, and in a way, every player has ambitions to win it someday, and we must respect that.

Also, there will certainly be some minor discussions from time to time, but honestly, when we all come together, there won't be any particular controversy or debate, and we won't necessarily talk about it. I think this is mainly attention and exaggeration from outside, but that's normal and must be accepted calmly. Within the team, I don't think there will be any issues. We'll have one clear objective then—the matches we'll play: the four matches ahead of us. Everyone will be completely focused on that task, especially the third away match against Turkey (laughs).

Hello Zidane, you have four matches in two weeks. Is that enough time for tactical training and arrangements? Or what's the most important focus for this first training camp in your view?

Yes, tactical training still needs to happen. In reality, there won't be much time for training because we're essentially playing every three days and constantly traveling. But at the same time, that's fine too, because we have four matches and can spend 15 days together, which is good for everyone to get to know each other—especially for our coaching staff and players to understand each other. Then, as you said, playing four matches in 15 days means very limited recovery time. So everyone needs to be match-ready, which is why the squad selection also takes that into account.

Hello Zinedine, you've said—or at least the president publicly stated when he introduced you—he said, "When I met Zinedine, Zinedine told me, 'I know how to win.'" So I'd like to ask you, since you ended your last coaching position in 2021, have you always watched France's national team matches with the keen eye of a future national team coach? Especially at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which you personally attended, many of the young players you've now called up played there, such as Adrien Truffert, Guillaume Restes, Michael Olise, and Rayan Cherki. Did watching these Olympics and these young players' performances have a profound influence or inspiration on your selection decisions or philosophy later on?

I've always followed the French national team. For a long time, I was a player on this team, and I won with this team. What else can I tell you? I mean, I have extremely deep feelings for this team. And now I'm the coach of the French national team. In fact, I feel the heavy responsibility of this role deeply and clearly understand what I've been given.

But at the same time, I'm here to coach this team and try to maintain continuity, because continuity is its nature. People have talked about so-called "discontinuity," but there is no discontinuity. What I mean is, this is a continuity I want to maintain, while incorporating some of my own new ideas and passing them on to my players. Simply put, it's about trying to bring everything I'm good at and know as a coach to this team.

There are several players from Italian clubs in this squad, including some new faces or almost entirely fresh calls, such as Da Cunha. I'd like to know your reasons for calling him up, and Kalulu as well. I'm curious about your specific reasoning for selecting and calling up both of them. Also, does the upcoming match against Italy hold any special personal significance for you?

No, my reason for choosing these two players is simply that they deserve to be in our squad—that's it. They're players I wanted to evaluate myself. Regarding Luca Da Cunha, he's a player with very distinctive characteristics and strong qualities, and I really wanted to see how he performs in our team. Like many other excellent players, he qualifies for the national team, and today he's here with us.

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